Victorians and Chow (part 1)

The group started gathering at our flat at 9:30AM for Mimosas and Bloody Marys. By10:20 we were all acquainted and sufficiently fortified to set out on our walk. TheVictorian tour started 2 blocks away at the corner of California and Buchanan. From thatcorner all three styles of Victorians (Italianate, Stick, and Queen Anne) are readilyobservable.. To help guide us and give us some history of some of the buildings Derekbrought a copy of HERE TODAY and I had a copy of PAINTED LADIES. As we wereobserving one example of an 1885 Stick/Eastlake the next door neighbor, Mr. Joe Blue,the Director of the Golden Gate Bridge, invited us into the back yard of his very wellrestored 1885 house to see the beautiful original glassed-in gazebo in a very lovelygarden. We continued down California savoring the Victorians and other historicbuildings culminating in the recently restored Queen Anne Colonial Revival house on thecorner of Franklin and California. From there it was a short walk to our first food stop,SWAN OYSTER DEPOT..

We arrived at Swan at 10:50, and found immediate seating for all 8 of us with room tospare. A crew from The Discovery Channel was taping a segment for a show calledCheech Marins San Francisco, so look for Hounds in the background when that showairs later this year. Swan opened in 1912, and the stools at the bar were bought used atthat time. It is now run by 5 or 6 brothers, and before them by their father. Most of ushad some of the excellent New England Clam Chowder. Limster wont find many placesin Boston that make a better one. The broth is creamy, buttery, and delicious without ahint of flour, but with lots of clams. Several people tried a sampling of the oysters. Theyhad Blue Point, Kumamoto, Miyagi, and Belon. The ranking seemed to be unanimous,placing Kumamoto at the top, followed by Miyagi, Belon, and Blue Point. Limster willcheck whether Blue Points are better on the East Coast. Ruth had the Crab Cocktailwhich she deemed excellent, but she would have preferred a little less sauce. I had theSmoked Salmon, which was outstanding. It is house-smoked, sliced to order and servedon sourdough toast with capers. In case they didnt put enough capers on the plate theybrought me the jar. The flavor was delicately smoky and the salmon was rich and butteryand cut to just the right thickness. As we left we were each given a SOD sponge.

From there we walked to The Queen Anne Hotel on Sutter. This hotel was originallybuilt in 1895 as a girls finishing school for the mistress of a state senator. We had theopportunity to explore the interior and see some of the rooms. We then proceeded topass some of the finest Victorians. Some of the highlights were: Temple Ohabei Shalombuilt in 1898, and now in the process of being converted to a Japanese Seniors Home.The redwood facade has been made to appear as if it were stone. We then went on to theblock that SF Weekly claims is the only block in the city that is completely Victorian(actually there is one non-Victorian on the corner); and an 1886 Stick/Eastlake that wasmoved 12 blocks in 1974. We ended up at BENKYO-DO (see link bow) to try someJapanese Sweets.

We got a box of ten different Manjus. We had traditional ones with red bean paste on theinside and mochi (pounded rice flour) on the outside. We had one with the processreversed so that the red bean paste looked liked chocolate frosting. There was a deepfried dough one filled with red bean paste that was like a Japanese jelly donut, a pancakesandwich with bean paste between two pancakes and one with a flaky pastry covering. There were also several made with white bean paste. We took our box outside, and saton a little stone wall/bench next to a fountain to divide and consume them. A commentwas made that the texture was better in the ones we had last week, but we ate thosewhole without subjecting them to the trauma of being torn to pieces, so it wasnt a faircomparison. After we gobbled up the 10 pieces we took some photos and started downthe hill to MOZZARELLA DI BUFALA where an excellent lunch awaited us.